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Alexander Douglas Dyce

Alexander Douglas was born in 1895 in Yass, to Clarence George and Margaret Jane Dyce. By the 1900s, the Dyce family had moved to Appin, when Clarence got a teaching job at the local Public School. Here, Alex served two years in the Cadets, and found work as a bank clerk. When he was 23, he enlisted in the AIF at the Showground Camp in Sydney on the 8th of October 1916. The following month, Alex's older brother had also joined up.

Alex completed his training at the Royal Showground Camp and was posted to the 5th Divisional Ammunition Column. On the 19th of December 1916, Alex's unit departed Sydney on the RMS Orontes. He arrived in Plymouth in February 1917, and was taken to Parkhouse Camp. On the 8th of August, Alex left Southampton for France, however, upon arrival Alex was taken to hospital in Rouelles with influenza. By the 11th of October, he was taken on strength to the 1st Divisional Ammunition Column in Belgium. Just six days later, his older brother, John, was killed at Passchendaele. Alex had to carry on with his duty despite his brother's death, supplying vital war material to the front lines. Between February and April 1918, Alex was in hospital with tonsillitis. While recovering in March, he began writing the army, searching for answers about what happened to his brother. This resulted in an inquest, revealing that John was killed by shellfire. Alex then spent the remainder of the war with the Divisional Ammunition Column. He left England for Australia on the 23rd of July 1919. After Alex returned home, he married Eileen Barge in Redfern in 1925, and sadly passed away at Chatswood in 1939.